Monday, January 6, 2014

Monday Maunder: Welcome to 2014!


Happy New Year!  And, welcome to the *NEW* Monday Maunder here at Tif Talks Books!  This past week has been devoted to the round-up of 2013 (The Books of 2013 and The Treasures of 2013) and looking forward to Tif Talks Books in 2014.  One of the things I mentioned in the latter post is that Monday Maunder posts will be changing.  I will still be covering reading, blogging, writing, and life topics, but I won't be sticking to such a rigid structure.  Instead, I'm freeing it up with more rambling, maundering thoughts coming your way.  I think it will ultimately be more interesting for you to read and for me to write!  

Life this past week has been filled with taking down all the Christmas decorations and preparing for my son's birthday.  We celebrated him in a low-key manner yesterday with some of his favorite foods and a whole lot of fun and relaxation.  We decided not to go with a big celebration and I am so thankful for that.  It was one of the best days we've had in a long time.  The highlight of the day ... besides the boy, of course .. was this yummy Extreme Chocolate Cake, made completely from scratch.  No boxes, no containers of frosting.  All natural sweetness ... and, it was very sweet!


On the reading front, I kicked off the Bout of Books 9.0 Readathon this morning, and have already finished my first book, The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins.  This means that I have officially completed THREE books for the year so far.  The other two were Saga, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan and Life in Hand by Hannah Hinchman.  Saga was a perfect first read of 2014, but that is all I will say for now!  I will leave the rest of the gushing for the review to come in the weeks ahead!

I am now off to work on a couple of those reviews before diving into my next read.  I'm not sure which book it will be, but it will be one of those on my Bout of Books 9.0 list that I linked above.  Until next week . . .

How was your first week of the new year?  Are you kicking it off with Bout of Books as well?

8 comments:

  1. Three books already this year? Nice! First week of the new year was pretty good. Nothing too eventful but I still had a little bit of a break before having to head back to work so it was nice.

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    1. Kimberly Lynne ... I'm glad you had a little break to relax before heading back to work! Here's to hoping you have a fabulous 2014!

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  2. My brother's birthday is this week, too! He's turning 21. Time flies...

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    1. Tasha Brandstatter ... Oohhhh, 21!!! That's a fun birthday!! I hope you both have a wonderful time!!

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  3. The cake looks yummy! Haven't baked a cake from scratch in such a long time that I've probably forgotten how! Glad to hear his birthday turned out so nice. Low key is sometimes a nice change of pace. :)

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    1. Alexia561 ... This was my first cake from scratch in years! I'm so glad it turned out so yummy!

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  4. I have been failing miserably at Bout of Books. *frown* Oh well. These thins happen, right? Sound like you're getting in some good reading.

    That cake looks divine!

    Have a great weekend!

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    1. Michelle Miller ... I didn't get much reading in at all the second half of the week. Thank goodness the second half went better! Now, I'm going to take it easy until your readathon!!

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